


the spaces in between your fingers (were meant for me to fill)

by byungari



Series: 영원히 stay gold [9]
Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, implied jinhwi, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 01:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14944724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byungari/pseuds/byungari
Summary: woojin knows he should be rational about this; it could be a simple misunderstanding, after all. he tells himself to calm down before jumping to conclusions.but how can he calm down, when he catches his boyfriend flirting with someone else that isn't him?





	the spaces in between your fingers (were meant for me to fill)

**Author's Note:**

> nielcham cheating!au requested by anon on my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/iridescent__ong)

woojin feels his heart shatter into pieces when he sees daniel out laughing and flirting with another man. he feels the tears coming and turns around and flees the scene before daniel can see him.

he wonders where they went wrong. he wonders what he did to make daniel push him away and find comfort in the arms of another man.

***

“are you sure? you’re positive you saw him with someone else?” jihoon stresses. they’re at a nearby diner eating dinner when woojin reveals to his best friend what he saw earlier that day.

“yeah.” woojin sets down his chopsticks and stares down at his noodles. he has no appetite. “yeah, i’m sure.”

jihoon purses his lips in thought. “woojin. in the years i’ve known daniel, he never struck me as the cheating type? i’m not saying that you’re wrong, but i’m just saying that maybe you should confront him about it before letting it get to your head.”

“i know,” woojin whispers. “i thought the same, but you should’ve seen them, jihoon. he looked so happy.”

“woojin.” jihoon gives him a sharp look. “i know where you’re going with this. i know what you’re thinking right now. if it’s true—if daniel hyung _is_ cheating on you, then that’s not your fault. that’s on him. if he really is cheating on you, you can bet jaehwan hyung and i will kick his ass for you. do you understand?”

woojin nods mutely, unable to find his voice. jihoon is satisfied with this and resumes eating his meal.

“finish your noodles. jaehwan hyung said he’s going to pick us up after work and we’re all going to go watch a movie, okay?”

“okay.” woojin can’t bring himself to tell jihoon that he’d rather be alone right now; not when jihoon is trying hard to make sure woojin is okay.

***

when he sees daniel again with the same man from before woojin knows he’s not jumping to conclusions. what else could it be when it’s the happiest woojin’s ever seen daniel? he stares blankly as daniel reaches over and wipes something off of the man’s face with an endearing smile. woojin notes that the man is handsome—he vaguely resembles a model woojin saw in passing in one of daehwi’s magazines.

he startles when daniel looks back and makes eye-contact with woojin. the two of them freeze and daniel drops his hand with a shocked expression.

“woojin—” daniel says, but woojin turns around and leaves before the older male could grab him. he doesn’t want to hear any explanations. he’s seen enough.

***

to: **niel hyung ♥**

let’s break up.

***

woojin blocks daniel’s number and doesn’t answer the door when he comes knocking, begging woojin to give him a chance to explain. he muffles his sobs into jihoon’s chest when his best friend storms in, looking furious but softening at woojin’s broken self. jaehwan doesn’t say anything about his boyfriend suddenly spending more time at woojin’s dorm rather than their apartment, but instead offers woojin another shoulder to cry on if he needs so.

he’s eternally thankful for his friends and wonders what he did in his life to deserve such wonderful people surrounding him.

it’s hard avoiding daniel on campus when he seems to be everywhere, but woojin manages just fine. sure, he has to take the longer route to his classes and go around in a wide circle rather than take the shortcut that cuts through the fine arts building, but daniel is usually there with his friends, and woojin would rather die than have to confront daniel in person about their breakup.

the good thing is though that woojin’s major doesn’t allow him much free time anyways, so woojin usually holes himself in the library (which daniel avoids like the plague) or in his room, studying for his classes.

jihoon doesn’t say anything about woojin’s unwillingness to go out these days and instead joins him in the library or his dorm to study together. they’re joined occasionally by jaehwan, and sometimes jinyoung, but mostly it’s just the two of them.

“have you told daehwi yet?” jihoon asks one night after what seems like hours and hours of studying. he stretches and winces at the pain in his neck from being hunched over his textbook for so long.

woojin bites his lip and sets down his pen. “no, not yet.”

“you should tell him soon. he’s going to bite your head off from keeping this from him, then mine for not telling you to tell him earlier.”

“he’s going to kill daniel hyung,” woojin sighs.

jihoon gives him a look. “good. i’ll help him hide the body. or better yet, i’ll be his lawyer when he goes to court for murder.”

***

daehwi is woojin’s and jihoon’s childhood best friend; the three of them grew up together and somehow managed to get into their first choice of college. he’s also woojin’s roommate but is currently studying abroad in london as part of a requirement for his major.

“hey, hyung!” daehwi greets him happily when woojin calls him later that night. it’s currently midnight in korea, meaning it’s around four in the afternoon in london. “how are you?”

“i’m… alright,” woojin winces. “uh, i have something to tell you.”

“what is it?” daehwi asks.

“daniel hyung and i broke up,” woojin says quietly. daehwi is silent and waits for woojin to continue and tell him why. “he cheated on me.”

“oh, my god,” daehwi says. “i’m going to kill him.”

“please don’t. i’d rather not have one of my best friends go to jail for murder,” woojin responds dryly. “i’m okay. or, i will be.”

“does jihoon hyung know?” daehwi demands. “when did this happen? why didn’t you tell me?”

“yes, jihoon knows,” woojin sighs. “it happened like two weeks ago. i didn’t tell you because i know you’re busy over there. i’m sorry for not telling you sooner, hwi.”

daehwi stifles a heavy sigh. “okay. the semester here ends in december. think you can hold out that long without me?”

woojin tries to fight the grin that threatens to make its way onto his face but fails. “i’ll try my best. we miss you, daehwi. jinyoung still hasn’t stopped sulking since you left.”

daehwi’s laugh twinkles over the phone and woojin’s heart grows warm. he really did miss his best friend. “i know. he texts me a sad face at _least_ once a day. fear not, for your savior will be home soon.”

they talk for a bit longer, catching up on each other’s lives, when daehwi realizes how late it probably is in korea and forces woojin to hang up and go to sleep.

for the first time since the breakup, woojin goes to sleep with a smile adorning his face.

***

“woojin.”

he lets out a grunt when someone grabs his arm from behind and tugs—not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to cause him to stumble backwards a little. woojin frowns and turns around to give the person a piece of his mind but stumbles when he sees that it’s daniel, looking worse for the wear.

“daniel hyung,” woojin breathes out. he’s not sure if he’s ready for this.

“woojin.” daniel grabs woojin’s hand and looks at with pleading eyes. “please let me explain. it’s not what you think, i swear—”

“i think it’s exactly what i think, hyung,” woojin says quietly and pulls his hand out of daniel’s grasp. he tries not to give in when he sees daniel’s face fall. “hard to believe anything else when i saw it happen with my own two eyes.”

“woojin please,” daniel begs. he tries to grab woojin’s hand again but woojin steps back, away from daniel’s reach. “i swear to you, it’s not like that. seongwoo hyung is just an old friend—”

“what’s going on here?” jihoon seemingly shows up out of nowhere with a furious expression on his face. jaehwan is trailing after him with a pained expression and moves to grab woojin and pull him away from daniel while jihoon stands in front of him and gives daniel the angriest glare woojin’s ever seen on his friend.

“jihoon—”

“no,” jihoon interrupts loudly. “you don’t get to give your excuses—not when you hurt woojinnie like this. why bother, daniel hyung? you seemed happy with your new… _friend_. why don’t you just go to him and leave woojin alone?”

jihoon’s words are biting and brutal and they leave no room for argument—as expected of the law department’s star student. he turns around and drags both woojin and jaehwan away before daniel can try and defend himself. the three of them don’t stop until they’re well away from campus and woojin notes absentmindedly that they’re headed towards the café jaehwan works at.

“i have work.” jaehwan briefly glances at woojin before looking ahead again. his arms are still wrapped firmly around woojin and woojin finds himself leaning into the embrace. “keep me company, yeah? i’ll supply you guys with all the free coffee you want.”

“you’re going to get fired, hyung,” woojin remarks tiredly. he doesn’t have it in him to object. free coffee sounds nice, after all, and jihoon’s company and jaehwan’s comforting presence sounds even better. “but okay.”

“maybe we’ll get to see that happen in person,” jihoon muses. “that’d be quite the entertainment, don’t you think?”

“brats.” jaehwan scowls and jihoon laughs. woojin manages a small smile but not much more than that.

he’ll be okay, he thinks to himself. as long as he has his friends, woojin knows that he’ll be fine.

***

daniel is relentless, however, and it gets to the point where woojin can’t go anywhere without at least one of his friends with him, lest daniel corner him again and try to give him his pathetic excuses.

woojin’s getting tired of having to run around avoiding daniel and the sadness he previously felt turns into anger. who did daniel think he was, trying to crawl back and beg woojin for forgiveness after cheating?

it’s a rare day when woojin doesn’t see a single hair of daniel’s and he’s relieved. it’s been a stressful week with every single one of his professors deciding that this was the perfect week to pile on exams and papers.

sometimes woojin wonders why he ever wanted to become a doctor and regrets his entire life, but he powers through.

“park woojin.”

woojin frowns when a man approaches him with an apprehensive look. it’s not anyone he knows, and he wonders how the man knows him. when he gets closer, it hits woojin like a ton of bricks that this is the man woojin saw daniel with.

“oh, hell no,” he mutters under his breath and whirls around, intent on escaping whatever that man had to say to him. he’s not in the mood for this; he just wants to go to the library, drown in the medical journals he has to read by tomorrow’s lecture, drop out of college, and maybe find a cliff to jump off of.

“wait!” the man chases after him and woojin breaks out into a run.

 _not today, satan_ , woojin thinks.

he knows they probably look like idiots, running around campus like that. he sees some people stop and stare in bewilderment as woojin zooms past them with the man right at his heels. he curses. why can’t they just leave him alone?

woojin stops and sighs, looking up at the sky and prays for the self-control required to not murder anyone today. his patience is at its limit and there’s only so much woojin can tolerate before he blows up.

“what do you want?” he asks, not caring if he sounds rude. why should he care? this is the man his boyfriend— _ex-_ boyfriend—cheated on him with after all.

“my name is ong seongwoo,” the man says slowly.

“that’s nice, but i don’t really care.” woojin says flatly. “i can’t really say it’s nice to meet you. now, if you’ll excuse me, i have medical journals i have to drown in and a cliff to find to jump off of. goodbye.”

he tries to leave but the man lunges forward and grabs woojin by the arm. “oh, for fuck’s sake, will you just listen for a second? daniel wasn’t cheating on you, okay?”

woojin exhales deeply and turns around. his eyes are ablaze with fury and it’s enough for the man—seongwoo—to drop his arm and flinch. “okay. i’ll believe that. are you done? because i really need to get going.”

seongwoo sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “i’m serious. daniel was _not_ cheating on you. i just moved to town so we were just catching up, okay? niel and i have been friends since middle school.”

“likely story.” woojin resists the urge to roll his eyes. “anything else?”

“you don’t believe me.” seongwoo says this flatly, as if stating a fact. “of course, why would you? i can see why you would think he was cheating on you. but if you were close enough to listen to our conversations, you would also know that he wouldn’t stop talking about you. i think i know your life story by now, to be honest.”

woojin wants to believe him but he can’t bring himself to. “okay. thank you for telling me.”

seongwoo looks like he wants to say something else but stops himself. he lets out a defeated sigh instead and takes a step back. “i know you’re angry but i do hope you give daniel a chance to explain himself. he’s been a mess since… you know.”

woojin purses his lips and gives a short, jerky nod. “okay. goodbye, seongwoo-ssi.”

he leaves and seongwoo doesn’t stop him this time. a million thoughts fly around inside woojin’s mind and he wonders if seongwoo was telling the truth.

***

he confides in jihoon later that week over some chicken and beer. they’re in jihoon and jaehwan’s shared apartment, with the latter in their room to give the two friends some privacy.

he gives woojin a squeeze on the shoulder before disappearing off, and woojin feels a surge of affection towards jaehwan.

“i’m really happy for the two of you, you know,” he tells jihoon when jaehwan is out of sight. jihoon looks up from where he’s opening a can of beer and raises an eyebrow at the seemingly random comment.

“thanks, woojin,” he says finally after a beat of silence. “i’m happy too.”

they share a smile and settle into silence, eating their chicken. woojin chews on the chicken thoughtfully and tries to think of a way to bring what happened up. “hey.”

“hm?” jihoon looks over. “are you ready to talk?”

woojin smirks. this is what he loved about jihoon; he always seems to know when woojin wants to talk but waits for woojin to approach him first and doesn’t push. “yeah. ong seongwoo cornered me earlier this week.”

jihoon’s face scrunches up in confusion. “who? what kind of last name is ong?”

“ong seongwoo.” woojin blinks and stares at jihoon, wondering why his friend looked so confused while jihoon just gives him an exasperated look.

“woojin,” jihoon says patiently. “you’re leaving out some important information there. who the fuck is ong seongwoo, and why did he corner you?”

“oh, right. he’s the guy i caught daniel hyung with,” woojin reveals and jihoon drops his chicken in surprise.

“what the fuck?” he curses. “why did he corner you for, then? wasn’t it enough that he ruined your relationship?”

woojin winces. “uh, well. he told me that daniel hyung _wasn’t_ cheating on me, and that this is all just a big misunderstanding.” he tells jihoon everything seongwoo had told him, and jihoon listens silently with furrowed eyebrows.

“right,” jihoon drawls slowly when woojin finishes talking, clearly unamused. woojin’s glad he’s not the only who’s skeptical of the story. “right. that’s believable.”

“i don’t know what to do,” woojin admits. he sets down his now-empty can of beer and leans back with a sigh.

jihoon hums thoughtfully. “well, what do you want to do?”

woojin is silent. what does he want to do? he doesn’t even know. “i don’t know.”

“do what you think is right, woojin. it’s your choice,” jihoon says. “you’re smart. you’ll make the right decision for yourself.”

***

woojin unblocks daniel’s number the next day and stares at the screen, trying to figure out what to send. he spends the majority of his morning in between classes typing out and erasing a message. in the end, he settles for a simple _‘can we talk?’_ and wonders why he wasted so much time if he was just going to send a simple text like that.

a reply comes almost instantly and woojin almost drops his phone in shock, not having expected daniel to respond so soon.

from: **kang daniel**

god, yes please. is now a good time? i know you’re done with classes at this hour.

woojin hates that daniel still has his schedule memorized, and he hates how his heart skips a beat at the prospect of seongwoo being right, and that daniel _hadn’t_ been cheating.

to: **kang daniel**

yh now is a good time. where r u?

from: **kang daniel**

im at the quad. do you want to meet at the café off of campus? the one near that pizza place.

to: **kang daniel**

sounds good. see u there.

***

woojin texts jihoon that he’s meeting up with daniel and puts away his phone before entering the café. his hands are sweating, and he wipes them on his jeans. he finds daniel sitting in a corner away from the other tables and makes his way over after ordering a cup of coffee; he still has another exam to study for after this, and woojin wants to die. just a little bit.

“hey,” woojin greets and plops himself down onto the chair. something in his gut tells him that what seongwoo had told him is right, so he tries to make this as less awkward as possible. “how have you been?”

daniel is staring at him with some sort of awe, as if he can’t believe that woojin actually showed up. “uh, i’ve been better. what about you? how are your classes?”

woojin just sighs. “i should’ve never done pre-med.”

“you’re good at what you do, though,” daniel points out with a slight smile.

“debatable,” woojin grumbles. they fall into silence after that, both of them wondering how to bring the topic up.

“so,” daniel clears his throat. “seongwoo hyung told me he tried to tell you what… happened.”

“ah, yeah.” woojin nods. “i, uh, may have been a little rude to him. can you tell him i’m sorry about that?”

“yeah, no problem.” daniel waves his hands dismissively. “he wasn’t too worried about it.”

“is it true?” woojin asks. “what he told me?”

“it is,” daniel confirms without a second thought. his eyes are steady as they stare into woojin, and that’s how woojin knows that daniel isn’t lying. he stares when daniel hesitantly reaches over to take woojin’s hand in his own. “woojin, i swear to you, i wasn’t cheating. the thought of even doing something like that to you appalls me. i should’ve introduced you to seongwoo hyung first before hanging out with him like that, but we haven’t seen each other in a few years so we were just so caught up in catching up in each other’s lives.”

woojin is silent during daniel’s mini-speech. he feels guilt starting to creep up and tears beginning to pool in his eyes.

“oh, my god.” daniel hurriedly stands up in shock and sits down next to woojin. “why are you crying? fuck, woojin, what’s wrong?”

“i’m sorry,” woojin whimpers. “i should’ve talked to you first before jumping to conclusions. i’m sorry, niel hyung.” the tears start to fall and daniel’s eyes soften, hands coming up to cup woojin’s face and wipe away the tears.

“baby, it’s okay,” daniel murmurs softly. “it’s my fault. i’m sorry that i hurt you. i—”

“what the fuck?” an angry voice interrupts daniel and they both look up in surprise. jihoon is staring at them with pure anger in his eyes and woojin pales. oh, shit.

jihoon storms up to the two of them and yanks daniel away harshly, causing the older male to go tumbling down onto the ground with a grunt.

“you made him cry again? you asshole!” jihoon growls, but jaehwan holds him back before he can pounce. “i’ll kill you!”

“jihoon,” woojin scrambles up and stands in between his best friend and daniel. “hoonie, wait.”

“what?” jihoon snaps. “he made you cry!”

“this is a misunderstanding,” woojin hisses and his eyes dart around nervously. they’re causing a spectacle and woojin does not do well under pressure. he shoves that thought away, however, when daniel groans from the floor. “fuck, niel hyung, are you okay?”

“i’m glad to see that jihoonie is still kicking ass,” daniel grunts as woojin helps him stand back up.

“don’t call me that,” jihoon snarls. jaehwan sighs and continues to hold jihoon in an iron-grip. “i’m going to sue you for emotional distress, you asshole!”

“please don’t,” woojin says flatly. he checks daniel over to make sure he didn’t get hurt before turning back to jihoon with a sigh. “this was a misunderstanding. niel hyung didn’t cheat.”

jihoon pauses in his conquest for daniel’s blood. “oh?”

“yes, so please don’t sue me.” daniel hides behind woojin in slight terror. “i’m too broke to be sued. or afford a lawyer.”

jihoon purses his lips and narrows his eyes at woojin. “you’re sure?”

“positive.” woojin sighs.

“okay.” jihoon is quick to anger, but he’s also quick to placate. “well, have fun talking. text me later, okay, woojin?”

“got it.” woojin gives jihoon an ‘ok’ sign and waves as he and jaehwan leave the café. “sorry for that.” he turns to daniel and sighs for the millionth time in the past thirty minutes. “you know how jihoon is.”

“yeah, i know.” daniel laughs and woojin’s heart skips a beat as he realizes how much he’s missed that laughter. “do you want to go? they’re still staring at us.”

woojin looks around the café and sees that the other customers are indeed still staring. “yeah, let’s bounce.”

the two grab their bags and dump their drinks before leaving the café. the walk back to campus is silent. woojin jumps when daniel takes woojin’s hand to hold and stares down at their hands dumbly.

“is this okay?” daniel asks quietly. his grip is loose to give woojin the option of pulling away. woojin stares for another second before tightening his grip.

“yeah, this is okay.” it’s more than okay, but woojin knows that daniel can read in between the lines.

they continue to walk in silence, aimlessly strolling around campus. woojin knows he should probably head to the library now so he can at least keep up the pretense of being a responsible, medical student, but he doesn’t want to let go of daniel’s hand. ever.

he knows daniel feels the same when he squeezes woojin’s hand tighter, and woojin lets the smile he’s been fighting back make its way onto his face.

they would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/iridescent__ong) | [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/iridescent__ong)


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